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Resources updated between Monday, July 29, 2013 and Sunday, August 04, 2013

August 2, 2013

Now running for the UN Human Rights Council are the following luminaries: Russia, China, and Algeria. The key UN-concocted "burden" for running for membership on the UN's top human rights body is to make a "pledge" about the country's serious interest in protecting human rights. So duly mounted on the UN website comes the following pledge from China:

"The Chinese Government...has made unremitting efforts for the promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Chinese people..." [ed. note: if by 'unremitting' they mean non-stop efforts to deny civil and political rights] "The Chinese Government has introduced effective measures to promote...social harmony, and strived for a happier life with more dignity for its people..." [ed. note: by silencing anyone with non-harmonious views] "The Chinese Government wishes to take this opportunity to make the following solemn pledges:...To continue to strengthen the development of democracy and the rule of law..." [ed. note: 'continue' being the operative word, since the non-development of democracy will definitely continue] "To further protect the rights and interests of minority ethnic groups, women..." [ed. note: unless one hails from Tibet, is a member of Falun Gong, happen to want a second child, etc. etc.]

On July 30, 2013 the Perdana Global Peace Foundation from Malaysia received official UN accreditation by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The man behind Perdana - its founder and current President - is none other than the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (1981-2003). (The official proceedings can be heard via UN webcast here at 1:00:06 to 1:05:11.)

Contrary to the requirements of the UN Charter and the supposed criteria for UN accreditation - which preach "respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion" - Mohamad has a long history of antisemitism.

As far back as September 1986, he gave a speech at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, in which he stated: "the expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land 2,000 years ago and the Nazi oppression of Jews have taught them nothing. If anything at all, it has transformed the Jews into the very monsters that they condemn so roundly in their propaganda material. They have been apt pupils of the late Dr. Goebbels."

Today, his antisemitic (anti-American and anti-Israel) diatribes continue unabated on his "chedet" blog - conveniently available directly from the website of the now UN-accredited "Perdana Global Peace Foundation" - which he controls.

Here are just a few of his entries:
* September 14th, 2012: I am glad to be labelled anti-Semitic. How can I be otherwise when the Jews who so often talk of the horrors they suffered during the Holocaust show the same Nazi cruelty and hard-heartedness towards not just their enemies but even towards their allies should any try to stop the senseless killing of their Palestinian enemies."

* October 18, 2012: "the most blatant example of control over public expression is with regard to the protection of the Jews... when David Irving a British historian [ed. note: infamous Holocaust denier] doubted the 6 million figure, he was arrested and jailed in Austria even though his opinion was not expressed in that country. Since then no one has dared to openly question the veracity of the claim on the number of Jews killed by the Nazis."

* November 21th, 2012: "Israel is really operating an Auschwitz type of concentration camps as operated by the Nazis for Jews in the last war. Israel tells the world that the Nazis were inhuman. But the Palestinians, the Gazans did not put Jews in concentration camps. Still they are being made to apparently pay for the sins of the Europeans. Humane treatment is only for Jews. If Jews treat the Arabs with the same kind of brutality, it is alright."

* January 11, 2013: "AIPAC (the Jewish lobby) the most powerful lobby in the U.S..."

By the way, Mohamad is also a 9/11 conspiracy theorist - much like the UN's other famous antisemite, "human rights expert" Richard Falk.

Here's Mohamad's 9/11 rant on November 20th, 2012. The entry is entitled "9/11 Revisted - Seeking the Truth." He begins by congratulating the Perdana Global Peace Foundation for "doing the unthinkable. It is going to seek the truth about the destruction of the twin World Trade Centre buildings..." He starts his 9/11 assessment by claiming Arabs are an inferior people incapable of masterminding 9/11: "They are not a disciplined people and this lack of discipline shows everywhere...The attacks on 9/11 involved very complex elements which needed detailed planning, precise timings and disciplined execution." Mohamad continues, "I can imagine trained operatives like those in the CIA or Mossad planning and executing this complex operation but I cannot imagine an Arab like Osama bin Laden planning and directing this sophisticated aerial attack from some remote place in Afghanistan..." He then concludes: "Find the beneficiaries and I believe you will find the real terrorists."

There is not much doubt why the UN's Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People found the Perdana Global Peace Foundation to be just the kind of group with which it can do business. The question is, why are Americans doing business with the UN?

There is something that can be done about it. Immediate steps can, and should, be taken to withhold American taxpayer dollars from the United Nations so long as this (or any other) UN body grants any official status, accreditation, or recognition, to any organization which promotes or condones antisemitism.

Saudi Arabia was a member of the UN's top human rights body, the Human Rights Council, from 2006 to 2012. According to the rules it had to rotate off for one year. So this November it is running for another 3-year term. Here's one reason why Saudi Arabia has lots of "human rights" fans at today's UN.

"The editor of a Saudi Arabian social website has been sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for founding an Internet forum that violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought, Saudi media reported on Tuesday.

"Raif Badawi, who started the 'Free Saudi Liberals' website to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia, has been held since June 2012 on charges of cyber crime and disobeying his father - a crime in the conservative kingdom and top U.S. ally."

John Kerry with Martin S. Indyk, a former American ambassador to Israel

To understand why the United Nations is such an important and dangerous institution, look no further than Secretary Kerry's use of the organization as a weapon against the supposed ally of the United States, Israel. The New York Times reports on the U.S.-driven Palestinian-Israeli talks: "In recent weeks, Mr. Kerry and his aides have outlined several basic arguments for why his efforts might bear fruit. Perhaps the most important one, which Mr. Kerry advanced almost the moment he was picked for the State Department post, is that the United States does not have the luxury of staying on the sidelines. With the Palestinians poised to take their claim for statehood to the International Criminal Court and United Nations bodies, American officials say the two sides were facing a downward spiral in which the Israelis would respond by cutting off financing to the Palestinian territories and European nations might curtail their investment in Israel, further isolating the Israelis."

In other words, the Palestinians threaten to use the United Nations to act unilaterally - breaking their obligations under the Security Council-endorsed "Middle East Road Map" - and the response from the Obama administration is not to threaten the Palestinians with an 'offer they can't refuse' but to threaten Israel. The supposed Palestinian "gift" of not using the UN to orchestrate an end run around negotiations is in fact not giving anything at all. It's reneging on the outcome of prior negotiations.

Actually, those prior agreements were already broken by the Palestinians last year. In the fall of 2012 the Palestinians stage-managed a UN spectacle in which they renamed themselves as "the state of Palestine" and acquired the status of UN non-member observer state. But instead of reaping serious negative consequences from the Obama administration, they encountered an administration doing just the opposite. The administration is still doing its damnedest to get Congress to annul the very limited negative financial results experienced only by the UN agency UNESCO. On every other front, U.S. dollars just keep flowing and it is diplomatic business as usual. If anything, the Palestinian move was a huge success, because allegedly President Obama and Secretary Kerry were sufficiently intimidated by the prospect of more such moves that the only possible next step was to come down hard on Israel and force it to release convicted Palestinian murderers from Israeli prisons.

So where are we? Palestinians have magnanimously agreed not to pursue unilateral UN actions - in direct contravention of their obligations - or to attempt to prosecute Israel at the "neutral" International Criminal Court (whose statute has a provision written specifically to target Israel). The Obama administration pretends it is doing Israel a favor by bringing the Palestinians to the table because their hands are tied by the UN. That would be the same UN that is dependent on American taxpayer dollars for its next breath.
In other words, the UN and the Palestinians are doing exactly what the President of the United States and his Secretary of State want. Forget genocide in Syria. Millions of Egyptians on the streets can wait. Just like the UN Israel-haters have always said, Israel is the root cause of the world's problems, so bludgeoning Israel is Obama – and the UN's – game.

Months after chemical weapons were used in Syria and months after a UN investigation team was created, prepped and ready to go, two UN officials have come and gone to Syria on a two-day visit. The UN then issued a one-sentence press release which announces the culmination of the months of discussion on "the modalities" of any investigation. Here you have it: "The discussions were thorough and productive and led to an agreement on the way forward." No date. No details. No use.